Rip off the mask, tear down the walls. Show the world my beautiful, vulnerable self!

Archive for the ‘Waiting’ Category

Sometimes, What Isn’t There Matters More

After three days of fun, sun, music and dancing with my line dance friends and instructor on what is becoming our annual line dance cruise, I woke to an overcast day, a bed full of demanding felines and…silence. If you’ve ever been on a cruise ship, you know that the noise level can go from quiet conversation to earsplitting shrieks and music in a matter of moments, simply by moving from one place to another, but silence is a rare commodity. Even in the wee hours of the morning, people are moving about and making their own particular noises while doing so.

In my own personal oasis, albeit in the middle of a suburban housing tract, silence is more common than one might think. Once everyone has left for school or work, traffic is minimal, conversations occur indoors and even the birds might rest quietly until something disturbs them.

On my vision board, I have pictures of a 13 acre piece of property on it’s own peninsula overlook the Pacific Ocean. There are currently two houses on the property and the rest is either open land or fruit trees. In my imagination, I have already begun remodeling the kitchen in the main house, adding a catio and expanding the house overall. I’ve also added two or three cabins so I can invite fellow artists to retreat from the noise and chaos of their own personal realities and just hone their craft. Such a place would certainly come with its share of sounds, ocean waves crashing against the rocks, in particular. These are sounds I’d thoroughly enjoy and lack of human contact for days at a time would hardly matter. Finding fellow humans would be a simple matter anyway. They’ve overrun this planet and can be found even in the remotest of spots by driving a few miles in one direction or another. Sometimes, my weekly dance nights are enough to satisfy the small social part of me anyway.

Being an Uncommon Human

I realize that for most people, my imagined (and even real) lifestyle would be dull or boring at best and frightening at worst. Many would claim that humans are social animals, but that statement completely ignores the introverts. I am certainly not alone in my tendency to thrive in the company of animals rather than humans. Many have echoed my feelings about preferring animals to humans, for the most part. Often those people become my friends. It makes me wonder if it’s humans who have, in a lot of cases, become abhorrent, or if our crazy, frenetic lifestyle has created a different kind of human who is simply difficult to be around.

It isn’t that I dislike humans, exactly. It’s more about certain character traits and, well, noise. I have trouble being around people who have to be loud (shrieking, drunken women comes to mind) or pushy. As I see it, there’s plenty of room for all of us, so why not share the space? Sure, we may have to wait our turn, but I’ve met some interesting people while waiting in line for something.

Things to Do While Waiting in Line

Having had numerous opportunities to stand and wait, I’ve given the experience some thought and come up with a few things to while away the time:

1. Watch people. As a writer, there is much to be learned by simply watching.
2. Strike up a conversation. Again, you can learn a lot about characterization by talking to someone.
3. Do a mental review of your To Do list.
4. Meditate. I’ve learned to challenge myself to meditate in odd situations and where there is a lot of background noise. Learning to master this can be very helpful in stressful situations.
5. Create a mental gratitude list.

I’ve intentionally left out any activities which involve electronic devices. I, myself as well as society as a whole has become far too dependent on such devices for our lives, our entertainment and our attention. It was actually very nice to leave my phone and iPad in the cabin this weekend. In fact, the phone stayed in the safe the entire trip as I finally got a battery for my watch, and the iPad only came out at night when I was having trouble falling asleep. It was a novel experience to be computer free for almost three days! In fact, it’s taken me another three just to get a blog post written!

But here it is, my first blog post after my cruise, and my first opportunity to again share gratitudes:
1. I am grateful for time away from electronics.
2. I am grateful for silence.
3. I am grateful for days spent alone with my cats.
4. I am grateful for the homeopathics which have kept me away from the doctor and those nasty antibiotics they prescribe.
5. I am grateful for abundance: blog work, silence, friends, family, love, revenue sources, health, peace, harmony, prosperity and philanthropy.